Study finds doxycycline effective against filariasis in Southeast Asia

Doxycycline alone is more effective against the most common form of filariasis in Southeast Asia than the standard treatment, with significantly fewer side effects, according to a new study published in the May 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases and currently available online.

Approximately 120 million people worldwide are infected with thread-like parasitic filarial worms causing lymphatic filariasis. This tropical disease, found in regions of Asia, Africa, and Central and South America, is spread by mosquitoes and causes episodes of acute and chronic inflammation, including elephantiasis. The standard treatment has been a combination of diethylcarbamazine and albendazole, which are accompanied by significant side effects in about half of the patients, including fever, headache, dizziness, and enlarged lymph nodes.

Doxycycline works by targeting a symbiotic bacterium, Wolbachia, which live inside the filarial worms. When the bacteria are killed by the antibiotic, then the worms also die. Doxycycline has previously been found to be effective against filariasis caused by the Wuchereria species. However, more than half of the filarial cases in Southeast Asia are caused by the Brugia species. Researchers in Indonesia set out to determine whether doxycycline would be effective against this species as well, with fewer adverse reactions than standard treatment.

The authors treated 161 patients with doxycycline plus placebo, diethylcarbamazine and albendazole plus placebo, or both treatments. After 12 months, 77 percent of the patients given doxycycline plus placebo tested negative for the Brugia parasite, compared to just 27 percent of those given diethylcarbamazine and albendazole plus placebo. Those given both treatments fared best: 87.5 percent tested negative for the parasite.

Nearly 43 percent of patients given diethylcarbamazine and albendazole experienced severe adverse reactions including high fevers. None of the patients given doxycycline had severe reactions. Of those receiving both treatments, about 16 percent had severe reactions.

In addition to offering a safer treatment alternative, the authors said the study demonstrates that the symbiotic Wolbachia bacteria in the parasite are a viable target for further anti-filariasis drug discovery.

Source: Infectious Diseases Society of America

Related stories:

Stick with simple antibiotics for pneumonia to avoid super bugs, says researcher
Australian hospitals should avoid prescribing expensive broad-spectrum antibiotics for pneumonia to avoid the development of more drug-resistant super bugs, according to a University of Melbourne study.
Combination therapy including antibiotics may be beneficial for multiple sclerosis
A preliminary study suggests that combining a medication currently used to treat multiple sclerosis with an antibiotic may slow the progress of the disease, according to an article posted online today that will appear in the February 2008 print issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Mailmen might deliver meds in next anthrax attack
(AP) -- If there ever is another anthrax attack, the mailman may deliver your antibiotics. Federal health officials are beginning a project in Minneapolis-St. Paul to let letter carriers stockpile a personal supply of emergency antibiotics so they are protected and ready to go deliver aid to the rest of the city at a moment's notice.
New method for creating inducible stem cells is remarkably efficient
Some of the most challenging obstacles limiting the reprogramming of mature human cells into stem cells may not seem quite as daunting in the near future. Two independent research papers, published by Cell Press in the September 11th issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, describe new tools that provide invaluable platforms for elucidating the molecular, genetic, and biochemical mechanisms associated with reprogramming. The new findings also offer considerable hope toward making the reprogramming process more therapeutically relevant.
New technique produces genetically identical stem cells
Adult cells of mice created from genetically reprogrammed cells—so-called induced pluripotent stem (IPS) stem cells—can be triggered via drug to enter an embryonic-stem-cell-like state, without the need for further genetic alteration.
A single mechanism for hypertension, insulin resistance and immune suppression
Many of the 75 million Americans with essential hypertension also develop diabetes and other complications in addition to their high blood pressure, and researchers have discovered a common molecular mechanism in a strain of rat that explains why such metabolic disorders arise together in mammals.
New drug trial for serious blister disease
It's itchy, very painful and potentially fatal but a new clinical trial by University of Nottingham scientists is hoping to give sufferers of a rare skin condition a safe and effective treatment at last.
Drug prevents dangerous tick diseases
Lyme disease is the blight of countryside users but it may be prevented with a single injection, according to research published in the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

News discussion:

Medicine & Health news